The BONAPARTE’S GULL at Rowley Lake, Burnley on 25th October 2001 - by Bob Ashworth.

I arrived at the lake at 09:00 on a mild and sunny morning with a light southerly wind blowing.  I was hoping to see the first winter Mediterranean Gull that had been present the previous day.  There were many Black-headed Gulls on the lake and several Common and Lesser Black-backed Gulls but no sign of the Mediterranean Gull.

At 09:10 I was joined by Dave Berry and Peter Grice and 10 minutes later by Alan Holmes.  We had all been scouring the lake for about 15 minutes when Alan shouted out that he had got a small gull with an all-black bill.  Within a couple of minutes we were all onto the gull which was loafing on the water about 60 metres away surrounded by Black-headed Gulls.  I immediately blurted out “It’s a Bonaparte’s or Little Gull”.  Alan said it could be a Bonaparte’s but that it was too big for a Little Gull.  We watched the bird for a further 15 minutes and as we were not 100% sure it was a Bonaparte’s, I decided to dash home for some field guides.

I returned 10 minutes later to find that all the gulls had flown.  We then consulted ‘Collins Bird Guide’ and ‘Gulls a Guide to Identification’ by P.J.Grant.  We immediately dismissed Little Gull because of the size, head pattern and our bird had black-tipped primaries not white.  After a quick discussion we agreed we had seen an adult winter-plumaged Bonaparte’s Gull.

Peter put the bird on Bird Line North West and I put the bird on the ELOC Telephone Tree.  Several east Lancashire birders were quickly at the scene and fortunately the bird returned at about 12 noon and gave excellent views on and off all afternoon.  It was seen to fly off alone to the East about 15:30 hours and was not present the next day.

Video footage of the bird was obtained by Bill Aspin and Tony Disley and still photographs by Mark Breaks.

SIZE:                    The bird was smaller then the Black-headed Gulls on the lake, but bigger than Little Gull.

BILL:                   Not as long as Black-headed Gulls’ and completely black.

EYE:                    Black.

LEGS:                  Not seen.

HEAD:                 White with a black bar running from the eye onto the crown and a black bar running from a black ear-spot onto the crown.

UPPERPARTS:    Completely grey, darker grey than the nearby Black-headed Gulls, with the grey extending up the neck to the crown and running into the neck sides.

PRIMARIES:       On the folded wing the primaries were black with three small white primary tips.

I had to leave the site at 11:55 and didn’t see the bird in flight.  (Ed. The bird took off at 12:05 and flew over several observers, who were able to note the almost translucent white primaries with narrow black trailing edge).

Accepted by The BBRC.